User Reviews

2016 bottle drank fresh and poured in to a tulip snifter. Pours a tad thin and carbonated heavily from an aggressive pour but almost immediately dissipates leaving nothing behind. The smell is a coffee bomb upon first pour. The barrel is barely noticeable initially but starts to become more prevalent as it warms. The coffee starts to integrate in to the smell and the vanilla, boozy, and roasty notes of the barrel start to come to the forefront of the nose; deliciousness. The coffee variant is much more balanced than the regular which can be a bit cloying, especially this year. You still get the sweet caramel notes of the base beer on the front end but it is perfectly balanced by the bitterness and acidity of the coffee on the back end. The boozy flavor of the barrel as well as the vanilla notes also come through in the taste much like the smell. It is thick and chewy like a barrel aged stout should be but it is a tad thin. It also has to sit for a bit to let the carbonation dissipate and the mouthfeel to become more coating and let the flavors develop. Overall this is the best of bourbon county's lineup (outside the variants which could be hit or miss). Perfect balance of big stout, barrel, and coffee to bind it all together. Only knock is it is a tad thin this year.

2014 version, cellared 2 years
A - Pours very dark brown, small head that quickly disappears.
S - Aroma is strong and not coffee at all. More dark fruit than anything else.
T - Had a couple sips then allowed to warm. Coffee flavor is not overwhelming, very well balanced with dark chocolate flavor. Any alcohol that might have been noticeable when new has completely calmed down.
M - Carbonation is low. Mouth feel is almost perfect, beer coats the mouth and sticks. Wow.
O - This is a wonderful beer. Coffee doesn't hit you over the head, it's just part of the flavor profile, and I think I like that best. Give me more!

2016 version. Had a 5-6 oz pour at the GI Clybourn Black Friday tasting event.
About the only thing I could complain about is it seems a little thinner than regular BCBS, and has a little less head. I'll take the great coffee taste, which really blends well with the BCBS profile.

L: Almost no head on pour, whatever there was is gone in a flash. No lacing, only a thin ring around the edge. The beer is very dark and opaque even when held up to a light bulb. You can see tiny carbonation bubbles rising at the very top.

S: Nose is almost all coffee. I let it warm to see if something else would start coming through; some hints of unsweetened cocoa and vanilla start coming through as it warms. Maybe a tiny bit of the caramel malt as well.

So far it's well above-average, but I'm not absolutely overwhelmed or anything. Here goes...

T: Coffee, but far less assertive than you'd expect from the nose (an effect of aging?). Unsweetened cocoa, chocolate, caramel, vanilla. Malts of the base stout. The tiniest bit of alcohol heat on the finish, barely noticeable and well integrated into the entire taste. So yeah, this is pretty great.

F: Full-bodied, the tiniest bit of carbonation. Impeccable construction and balance, augmented by the mellowing of aging. ABV well-disguised, acid of coffee balanced with sweetness of base stout.

O: So, so, so got paid off for my patience on this. I did not try a new bottle of 2013, so I have nothing to compare it with, but I can sense some differences from the base stout in softening and integration of flavors.

Pour is viscous motor oil with mini fizzy bubbles coating the surface clingingly as a half finger head, leaving walls of dark tan lace, fizzling out to a thin ring.

Fudge, brownie and a mocha coffee nose open things up quite promisingly. A nice oak presence adds some spice to the aroma, but it's not hot. Vanilla develops over time.

At first gulp, I notice a smooth heat tickle the back of throat and tease the ears, but not burn. I'm tasting chocolate covered raisins, fudge, and oak. Roasted malt is pretty well integrated and is neither overpowering nor snuffed out. Salted roasted almonds pop in as it warms.

A fizzy tangy intro leads to a medium to full-bodied mouthfeel, with a slight drying effect to the roof of the mouth.

While I've had small portions of this a few times here or there, this full review is based on a bottled 2013 Vintage enjoyed on 10/09/2016.

On tap at Slaters 50/50. Looking forward to it since my lone bottles was a contaminated drain pour. Strong nose of bourbon and coffee grounds. Taste is even stronger coffee on top of the usual BCBS bourbon flavor profile. Very coffee forward, but the integration of flavors is decent. Not as smooth as regular BCBS though.

Appear : Dark black with tan head - 4/5
Aroma : Lots of coffee but can feel the original beer well, this coffee aroma is so well added to og bcbs - 10/10
Mouthfeel : Medium-low carbonation, full bodied - 4.5/5
Flavor : Lots of coffee, bourbon, oak, whiskey, vanilla, roast, burnt, so well balanced. - 10/10
Overall : Best coffee stout and ba stout in the same time. The balance just make me wow, but it also has impact. Must try. - 20/20

I've got friends that love this stuff and there's a place in my town that has this on tap all the time. It is thick, sludgy and hard to drink. The alcohol is pronounced. I can smell it a little too much. While I can taste coffee, its not the best coffee ever. both Founders KBS and Rushing Duck Imperial Beanhead have better coffee flavors. If I ever order a glass, I can't even make it halfway through a 12 oz pour. Some people like BCS, and I really love stout's but this one is the pits.

(Taste) Earthy roasted grains, coffee beans and caramel syrups with undertones of chocolate. There is a discernible acidity and tanginess lingering in the background, noticeable and does not generate an enjoyable impact on the overall flavor. Finishes slightly acidic, grainy, and tart. 3.5

(Mouthfeel) Texture is slick, medium oily, slightly chalky, medium dry. Carbonation is moderate, generating a medium frothiness and a medium crisp finish. Body is shy of medium for the style, shy of heavy overall. Balance is slightly tangy, acidic and earthy over sweet. Alcohol presence is mild and there is a distinctive impact from what suggests to be a potential bottle infection. 3.5

(Overall) I've sampled this beer on draft enough to know what it is an is not, and this bottle suffers from a clear infection, which is unfortunate considering the new repackaging job that makes it more expensive than ever. I'll consider revisiting this beer next year and hopefully these issues will be corrected. 3.5

Drink it slow to soak up all the goodnesses that it delivers. ove the dark color and the bourbon/beer aroma. Must share due to the high alcohol content. Love the feel in the mouth and it does go down easy. Good winter beer or is it a drink?

Wow! Had the 2015 version from a Keg and was blown away. Light carbonation, strong coffee smell, nice caramel head to it. I was a little afraid that it was going to be infected, but thank god it was not.

2014 bottle. Pours a deep dark black, a tinge of brown around the edges, and a light tan head that fades away. Aroma is a blend of rich chocolate, pepper, nuanced coffee grounds and dates. Big and boozy on the tongue, full bodied finish. Malty and rich, a delightful dessert.

One of my all-time favorite beers! The coffee and vanilla really hit you on the back. I love the nose of this one. It is a bit boozy but something super nice to drink one evening. Definitely worth sharing with a friend.

Pours rather flat with a moderate amount of carbonation. The smell of coffee is still strong. The coffee is still there as well in the taste. Its presence masks the sweetness from the normal BCBS. In its place is bitterness and a tinge if acidity from the coffee.

I like my stouts with moderate amounts of coffee, if any at all. I was expecting something different based on the high reviews. However, this is pretty much the same as all others I've had. The base beer doesn't help much when there is simply so much coffee added and is overpowering. If they tone down the amount of coffee added, I think this would be much better.

Look: Pours with a nice, dark brown 1 finger head, dark as can be. No lacing is seen on the glass.

Smell: Smells like coffee and bourbon! Smells less intense than the regular BCBS.

Taste: a ton of roasted coffee up front with a blast of barrel and a ton of caramel on the backend. Less sweet than the regular but delicious in it's own right.

Feel: Feels a bit thin compared to the regular but it feels very smooth and rich for a coffee stout. Definitely on the lighter side for a BA stout.

Overall: This was a fantastic gamble. Bought this and 4 BW off a buddy for $30 and this makes it worth that price to me. He even threw in a Perennial Aria as an extra! I'm looking foward to cracking the barleywines in the near future and hoping for the best!

This was exceptional. I had it out of a bottle at a local bar and it really made me reevaluate Bourbon county. The coffee comes through perfectly and it just has a unique drinkability that not a lot of high gravity stouts do. I could knock a few of these back I imagine on any given night.

Smell: tons of vanilla bourbon milk chocolate coconut coffee
Taste: Wow! So much vanilla and bourbon upfront middle of the mouth medium roast coffee milk chocolate maple syrup cherry burnt sugar finishes with a nice Carmel note dark chocolate coconut and a slight coffee roastiness.
Feel: big body syrupy creamy mouthfeel dry in the finish.
Overall: Just Wow! I love regular BCBS and this has a lot of the same characteristics but I think the coffee and the barrel character make this just absolutely incredible and just a little better then the regular version. But both versions deaserve a rating higher then 100!

A beer like this should allow the ability to rate higher than 100. Believe the hype and get some when you are able to. Smooth and silky with a subtle hint of the Abv. Drink it slow and savor, if you don't it will kick your rear.

Many have had off flavors, fortunately for me... Not the case! This thing was incredible, sip after sip out of this world! Black liquorish, leather, coffee, bourbon and chocolate punch to the face! Feel in the mouth is so good. Smell un-paralleled. Would buy again and again

This beer is infected as others have stated. For those that bought in quantity and don't go looking for the latest infected beer news, they might have not have had a chance to send theirs back for a refund or exchange. Pretty sad the very short time frame that Inbev allowed for this, especially when the bottle clearly says "condition up to 5 years". These beers are known to get better with age, and those of u who age them, their most loyal customers, 3 months just don't cut it for a fair time-frame to get their money back.